Before you Choose Surgery

Facts You Need To Know Before Making The Decision To Go Under The Knife

• Many low back pain sufferers are not good candidates for surgery. Either their medical conditions raise the normal risks to intolerable levels… or… their particular sources of low back pain won’t be relieved by surgery.
• Low back surgery requires significant recovery time. Time many patients cannot afford to lose. Recovery time ranges from 6 weeks for a laminectomy to 15 months for spinal fusion.
• Surgery is often unsuccessful. Each year, approximately 50,000 documented cases of “failed back surgery syndrome” occur.
• Surgery always results in the formation of some amount of scar tissue. If the scar tissue itself forms near any of the nerves, it too becomes an independent source for pressure and pain.
• Disc removal surgery takes place right near the afflicted nerves. There’s no telling what can happen during this kind of procedure. So there is a distinct possibility of…Permanent Nerve Damage During Back Operations
• Low back surgery requires the use of anesthesia. Which is associated with a number of medical risks including… death.
• All surgery, including low back surgery, is associated with infection risks. If infection sets in, it causes problems and becomes an independent source of pain.
• Once you have surgery, the chances of future operations increase. Statistics show a high probability of needing another surgery within two to five years.

Dr. Hubert L. Rosomoff, M.D. (medical director of the Rosomoff Comprehensive Pain Center, Miami, Florida) discussed “failed back surgery syndrome” while lecturing at the American Academy of Pain Management symposium. He concluded surgery should only be performed in 1 out of every 500 low back cases.

He felt doing so would eliminate 99% of all surgical cases.

As you can see, the risks of surgery far outweigh the benefits. Even some well-respected physicians do NOT view surgery as a primary prescription to low back pain.

If surgery is not the answer…